9 December 2014

Question Time: Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister 08 December 2014

Budget cuts and financial restrictions were top of the
agenda once more as deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, answered
questions on behalf of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First
Minister. Lord Morrow asked what impact the cuts will have on the delivery of
departmental services. Funds for the Historical
Institutional Abuse inquiry and the Victims
and Survivors Service have been ring-fenced but the remaining areas of the
department will see a reduction of £8.4m – a cut of 12.8%. The Minister said
that “to deliver these reductions the Department will scrutinise its entire
budget including staffing, administration costs, funding for arms-length bodies
and funding for programmes”. This will see reduced levels of staffing and cuts
in discretionary spending. “While the Department will seek to ensure that the
impact on front line services is minimised it will not be possible to fully
protect budget areas from the impact of the proposed budget reductions”.

The deputy First Minister was then asked about the
importance of devolving corporation tax powers in rebalancing the economy. Mr
McGuinness described securing corporation tax responsibilities as a “key
priority” saying that rates setting powers will “enable us to rebuild and
rebalance the economy towards greater private sector and output growth” and
“should increase direct foreign investment and domestic investment, expand our
economy and bring greater numbers of higher value jobs”. The deputy First
Minister pointed to the high level of foreign investment already secured by the
Department as evidence that it is not unrealistic to expect even more when we
are in a position to offer greater tax incentives to companies seeking to
invest in Northern Ireland.

During topical questions Mr McGuinness was asked how
confident he was that the current all-party talks would be concluded as per the
timescale set by Prime Minister, David Cameron. The deputy First Minister is
hopeful that a breakthrough will be achieved as “there is universal agreement
that if these talks are not concluded before Christmas then there is little or
no prospect whatsoever, in the aftermath of Christmas, of us finding a way
forward so it is absolutely vital that we conclude these discussions”. The aim
is to see a satisfactory conclusion by the end of the week.